Senior Member

Senior Member

I would use "suffer from". You don't "catch" prickly heat like you might other conditions. It is not transmitted by touching or transferring viruses or germs. So I would say "I suffered from prickly heat yesterday".

Senior Member

I would use "suffer from". You don't "catch" prickly heat like you might other conditions. It is not transmitted by touching or transferring viruses or germs. So I would say "I suffered from prickly heat yesterday".

I'd certainly understand if you said "suffer from" and it is correct, but I personally wouldn't use it, and it's not something I normally hear other people say. In my experience, it doesn't matter whether the condition is transmittable or not. If I'm talking about what caused the condition, or when the condition started, I use "get". If the condition just develops on its own, has no clear starting point, or if I'm talking about the continuing condition, I use "have". So I say, and hear:

"I got goosebumps when I went into that cold room." (emphasizes the cause and the moment they started)
"He got heatstroke from working in the sun all day." (emphasizes the cause)
"She was in the middle of giving a speech when she got the hiccups." (emphasizes the moment they started)

"I had goosebumps the whole time I was in that room." (emphasizes the continuing goosebumps)
"He had heatstroke from working in the sun all day." (emphasizes the continuing heatstroke)
"She had the hiccups while she was giving her speech." (emphasizes the continuing hiccups)

Prickly heat is tricky - it does have a cause (the heat), but to me, it seems more like an indirect cause for some reason.
It also develops gradually and has no clear starting point. So I would be more likely to say, "I've had prickly heat", but I can also imagine saying, "I've gotten prickly heat".

And note that "I've got prickly heat" (not "gotten") means I have it right now.

Senior Member

I agree; prickly heat is in the same category as a headache. But I would also use "get" for headaches. Would you accept these sentences? Would they sound strange to you?

"I won't go to that club anymore. I got a headache from all the smoke and noise." - Emphasizes the cause
"She often gets headaches in the afternoon and has to lie down." - Emphasizes the moment they start

I could see using "have" instead of "get" in both cases, but it would change the meanings for me a little bit:

"I won't go to that club anymore. I had a headache from all the smoke and noise."
- Emphasizes the continuing nature of the headache. I'd feel like I needed to add, "all night" or "the next day".

"She often has headaches in the afternoon and has to lie down."
- Again, emphasizes the continuing nature of the headache. It sounds a little like the headaches could start earlier in the day, and continue into the afternoon. I probably wouldn't assume that is the meaning, because that's kind of an odd thing to say, but it is a little unclear to me.

And I could easily say, "I'm getting a headache," meaning, it's developing right now. But I'd never say, "I'm starting to have/suffer from a headache."